SIR ALEX FERGUSON delivered an amazing snub to the watching world after Liverpool mauled his Manchester United side at Old Trafford.

After losing 4-1 to their biggest rivals, Ferguson refused, as is his wont, to talk to BBC TV and all the press-box’s written media corps. But he also refused to talk to Sky Sports, despite the millions the broadcaster pays his club each year, because he was miffed about the lunchtime slot for the big match after his team’s exertions in the Champions League on Wednesday.

Ferguson reckoned the fact United had only two-and-a-half days to recover from their Champions League win over Inter Milan – a day less than Liverpool – was a factor in their heaviest home defeat since 1992.

And he refused to do either the pre-match or post-match interviews with Sky, which are part of the TV contract for live games. His long-standing feud with the BBC meant his assistant Mike Phelan did the Match of the Day interviews, as usual.

Ferguson’s only utterances on one of the biggest games of the season came via United’s own TV channel and Key 103, who hold the radio broadcasting rights.

A Sky insider said: “We were not told officially the 12.45pm kick-off time was the reason but everyone knew that was the case. United had agreed the fixture scheduling and were quite happy to take the £500,000 match fee, so it doesn’t reflect well on them.”

Police had refused to allow the game to be switched to Sky’s prime-time slot of 4pm on Sunday because of the potential for fans to drink all day and increase the likelihood of trouble.

And the Sunday lunchtime slot had already been taken by Setanta’s screening of Chelsea’s fixture with Manchester City, which had been put back 24 hours because of City’s involvement in the UEFA Cup on Thursday.

United refused to comment last night.

Nemanja Vidic will have an extra game added to his automatic one-match ban for his red card because he was also sent off at Anfield in September. It means he misses Saturday’s trip to Fulham and the home game against Aston Villa on April 4.